Your Weekend in Combat Sports

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As always, programming is listed in EST
Live fights are in BOLD.
Premiere programming is in ITALICS.
MMA programming is in ORANGE.
Boxing programming is in RED.
Kickboxing/Muay Thai/Karate programming is in BLUE.
Wrestling/Jiu Jitsu/Grappling programming is in PURPLE.
Misc./Combination combat sports programming is in GREEN.

 

Friday April 12

4:30am: Mark Lucas vs. Sam Solimon/Les Sherrington vs. Michael Zerafa ($14.95 Epicentre.tv)
6:00am: OneFC: Roots of Honor Prelims (Facebook/Twitter)
8:30am: OneFC: Roots of Honor (OneFC App)
9:00am: UFC 236 Weigh-Ins (ESPN+)
11:00am: Kunlun Combat Professional League: Preseason ($1.99 EliteBoxing.tv)
11:00am: 2019 UWW U15 Nationals (FloWrestling)
4:00pm: Munguia vs. Hogan Weigh-Ins (DAZN)
5:30pm: Fight To Win Pro 108 (FloGrappling)
7:30pm: Countdown to Crolla vs. Lomachenko (ESPN2)
8:00pm: Lomacheko vs. Crolla Prelims (ESPN+)
8:00pm: UFC 236 Pre-Fight Show (ESPN+)
9:00pm: Rumble in the Cage 61 ($19.99 Fite.tv)
10:00pm: Combate Estrellas II (DAZN)
11:00pm: Anthony Crolla vs. Vasyl Lomachenko/Gilberto Ramirez vs. Tommy Karpency (ESPN+)

 

Saturday April 13

9:00am: 2019 Heartland National Duals (FloWrestling)
9:15am: 2019 Journeymen/MyHOUSE World Classic & Duals (FloWrestling)
10:00am: 2019 FRECO King of the Mat (FloWrestling)
11:00am: Kunlun Combat Professional League: Preseason ($0.99 EliteBoxing.tv)
11:00am: 2019 UWW U15 Nationals (FloWrestling)
11:00am: 2019 East Region MAWA Championship (FloWrestling)
11:00am: 2019 South Region MAWA Championship (FloWrestling)
12:00pm: Battle Arena 55 ($14.99 Fite.tv)
2:00pm: Extreme Fighting Championship 78 (DAZN)
3:00pm: Enfusion Live 83 (EnfusionLive.com)
6:15pm: UFC 236 Early Prelims (ESPN+)
7:00pm: Dennis Hogan vs. Jaime Munguia/Diego De La Hoya vs. Enrique Bernache (DAZN)
7:00pm: Iron Tiger Fight Series 87 (FloCombat)
8:00pm: UFC 236 Prelims (ESPN)
8:00pm: Pyramid Fights 11 ($9.99 Fite.tv)
8:00pm: PBC on FS1 Prelims (Fox Sports 2)
9:00pm: Fusion Fight League Presents ICF 33 ($14.99 Fite.tv)
9:00pm: Rise Fight Championship 3 ($13.99 Fite.tv)
9:10pm: Christina Hammer vs. Claressa Shields/Jermaine Franklin vs. Rydell Booker (Showtime)
10:00pm: UFC 236 ($59.99 ESPN+ Pay-Per-View)
10:00pm: Caleb Truax vs. Peter Quillin/Jack Culcay vs. Sergiy Derevyanchenko (Fox Sports 1)

 

Sunday April 14

1:00am: UFC 236 Post-Fight Show (ESPN+)
3:00am: Pancrase 304 (UFC Fight Pass)
9:00am: 2019 Journeymen/MyHOUSE World Classic & Duals (FloWrestling)
9:00am: 2019 Heartland National Duals (FloWrestling)
11:00am: 2019 UWW U15 Nationals (FloWrestling)
11:00am: 2019 East Region MAWA Championship (FloWrestling)
11:00am: 2019 South Region MAWA Championship (FloWrestling)
10:00pm: Countdown to Crawford vs. Khan (ESPN2)

 

Top-10 Viewing Options: After perhaps the worst combat sports weekend in history, the world adjusts and rebounds to stuff your goddamned fat face full of fights, forthright.

 

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 1. UFC 236: This is really only a two-fight card, and they’re for the scurge of the combat world, interim titles, but godDAMN, what a two-fights they are. Holy shit. Gastelum-Adesanya and Poirier-Holloway? Inject that shit between my toes.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 2. Anthony Crolla vs. Vasyl Lomachenko/Gilberto Ramirez vs. Tommy Karpency: Crolla will be helplessly overmatched, but it’s still a treat to watch Loma in his prime. Added bonus: Ramirez vs. Karpency could be a bunch of fun.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 3. Caleb Truax vs. Peter Quillin/Jack Culcay vs. Sergiy Derevyanchenko: This is a full card top-to-bottom. I definitely prefer those over a huge main event and crap underneath. But this could be Truax’s last shot to get to a world title fight, and he’s doing it in front of his rabid home crowd. Minnesota supports their own.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 4. Christina Hammer vs. Claressa Shields/Jermaine Franklin vs. Rydell Booker: It’s being advertised as the biggest women’s boxing bout in history, and I’m not willing to disagree. It very well could be, this is a gigantic freaking fight.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 5. OneFC: Roots of Honor: Certainly not as big as two weeks’ ago’s Sumo Hall venture, but not as big of a letdown as most promotions’ followup cards to a giant show. Relatively solid, actually.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 6. Fight To Win Pro 108: Three title fights headline an absolutely stacked F2W card this weekend. Lots of big names; Eddie Cummings, Tex Johnson, Myassa Bastos, DJ Jackson amongst them.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 7. Dennis Hogan vs. Jaime Munguia/Diego De La Hoya vs. Enrique Bernache: Hogan isn’t a can, but I wish Munguia had a more game opponent, same with De La Hoya’s opponent.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 8. Pancrase 304: A King and Queen of Pancrase championship each headline a solid Pancrase card.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 9. Countdown to Crawford vs. Khan: Luckily the undercard is damned great because having to pay for this main event is rank.

Your Weekend in Combat Sports 10. UFC 236 Post-Fight Show: Well, for better or worse, thanks to not one, but TWO shitty interim titles declared, the actual title pictures get a little clearer.

 

4×5: Every week, UCS’s Luke Irwin will list his Top-5 bouts in each of the four major different combat sports that he’s looking forward to the most, regardless of any conventional criteria, merit, or logic.

 

KICKBOXING/MUAY THAI

5. Enfusion 60kg Championship: Ilias Ennahachi vs. Madani Belhaddad [Enfusion Live 82]

4. Enfusion Women’s Bantamweight Championship: Iman Barlow (c) (90-6-3) vs. Delphine Guenon [Enfusion Live 82]

3. Flyweight Muay Thai Super Series Bout: Lerdsila Phuket Top Team (188-31-5) vs. Momotaro (27-9-1) [OneFC: Roots of Honor]

2. Welterweight Muay Thai Super Series Bout: Ognjen Topic (32-21-2) vs. Saemapetch Fairtex (119-15-1) [OneFC: Roots of Honor]

1. Light Heavyweight Kickboxing Super Series Bout: Andrei Stoica (49-12) vs. Ibrahim El Bouni (37-7-1) [OneFC: Roots of Honor]

 

BOXING

5. Light Heavyweight Bout: Gilberto Ramirez (39-0) vs. Tommy Karpency (29-6-1) [Top Rank on ESPN]

4. WBO World Junior Middleweight Championship: Jaime Munguia (c) (32-0) vs. Dennis Hogan (28-1-1) [Golden Boy on DAZN]

3. IBF Super Middleweight Title Eliminator: Caleb Truax (30-4-2) vs. Peter Quillin (34-1-1) [PBC on FS1]

2. IBF/WBA/WBC/WBO World Women’s Middleweight Championship: Christina Hammer (c) (24-0) vs. Claressa Shields (8-0) [Showtime Championship Boxing]

1. WBA Super/WBO World Lightweight Championships: Vasyl Lomachenko (c) (12-1) vs. Anthony Crolla (34-6-3) [Top Rank on ESPN]

 

MMA

5. Light Heavyweight Bout: Eryk Anders (11-3) vs. Khailil Rountree Jr. (7-3) [UFC 236]

4. OneFC Strawweight Championship: Yosuke Saruta (c) (19-8-3) vs. Joshua Pacio (13-3) [OneFC: Roots of Honor]

3. OneFC Featherweight Championship: Martin Nguyen (c) (11-3) vs. Jadambaa Narantungalag (14-5) [OneFC: Roots of Honor]

2. Interim UFC Middleweight Championship: Israel Adesanya (16-0) vs. Kelvin Gastelum (15-3) [UFC 236]

1. Interim UFC Lightweight Championship: Dustin Poirier (24-5) vs. Max Holloway (20-3) [UFC 236]

 

GRAPPLING/WRESTLING

5. 200lb Black Belt No-Gi Bout: Nick Calvanese vs. Tim Williams [Fight To Win Pro 108]

4. 185lb Black Belt Bout: DJ Jackson vs. Murilo Santana [Fight To Win Pro 108]

3. Fight To Win Pro Women’s Black Belt Strawweight Championship: Pati Fontes (c) vs. Myassa Bastos [Fight To Win Pro 108]

2. Fight To Win Pro Black Belt Heavyweight Championship: Tex Johnson vs. Gutemberg Periera [Fight To Win Pro 108]

1. Fight To Win Pro Black Belt Featherweight No-Gi Championship: Eddie Cummings (c) vs. William Wolk [Fight To Win Pro 108]

 

 

Bold, Yet Probably Fruitless Predictions: A man who actually wants to wager on fights after last week’s barren debacle is eager to take that L.

 

Best Fight of the Weekend: Dustin Poirier vs. Max Holloway
Most Underrated Fight of the Weekend: Gilberto Ramirez vs. Tommy Karpency
If My Life Depended on One Pick: Vasyl Lomachenko over Anthony Crolla
Best Card Top-to-Bottom: UFC 236
Upset of the Week: Ovince Saint Preux over Nikita Krylov
Most Disappointing Fight of the Weekend: Christina Hammer vs. Claressa Shields

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